Chapter 2122: Chapter 1003: Taking Action Linghu Xiao looked indifferent. Ouyang Xuan wore a mocking expression. Mo Hua, Cheng Mo, and Situ Jian all had somewhat subtle expressions. The young man didn’t say anything else. After speaking harshly, he provocatively glanced at Linghu Xiao and walked away with his head held high. After he left, the place was quiet for a moment. Mo Hua gradually realized a problem and frowned: "He asked us to remember his name, but... didn’t he say what his name was?" Situ Jian pondered, "Does he think we should all know who he is?" Cheng Mo was also curious, "Who is he?" Mo Hua took out the Taixu Token, found the opponent in the match, glanced over the names of the five people opposite, and his mind moved slightly, deducing for a moment before finding his name: "Wu Ming." "His name is ’Wu Ming’?" "Wu, from ’mouth’ and ’sky’, Ming, as ’sun’ and ’moon’." "Oh... turns out he’s from the Wu family," Cheng Mo said. "Wu family?" Mo Hua asked. "A rune-making aristocratic family, makes a lot of Spirit Stones, very wealthy," Situ Jian explained succinctly, "Their main house is in Kun State, but there are scattered clans of the Wu family in many places across the Nine State." "Very wealthy?" "Yes, very wealthy." Situ Jian nodded, "Qian State, due to its long-standing heritage, welcomes talents from all over the world, thus producing outstanding people and gathering aristocratic families." "Meanwhile, Kun State, due to its fertile land and abundant resources, became the richest in the Nine State. Thus, it cultivated many wealthy aristocratic families and great clans." "The Wu family is one of the great clans of Kun State. Being wealthy allows them to engage in the expensive rune-making industry, and runes are costly, the rune-making industry is also highly profitable, leading the Wu family to grow larger and larger..." Situ Jian explained to Mo Hua one by one. He is composed and meticulous, quick-witted and eager to learn, and knows a lot about the aristocratic families, most of Mo Hua’s knowledge about them comes from him. But Mo Hua had a question: "Why are runes ’highly profitable’?" Normally, when he duels cultivators, he rarely sees people using runes. Runes are merely a supplementary means used for emergencies or escape. Until now, he hasn’t seen a cultivator who uses ’runes’ as their primary means of confrontation. Situ Jian said, "There are many reasons for this, high costs, Taoist Court control, one-time consumption... Most cultivators won’t overuse runes." "The higher the expert, the more sophisticated the Taoist Skill inheritance, and the less they need to rely on runes." "The greatest use of runes is still in Tao Cultivation warfare and some medium to large-scale cultivator battles, used for temporary fire suppression and targeted explosions, etc." "Tao Cultivation warfare is all about burning Spirit Stones." "If Spirit Stones aren’t burned, then ’human lives’ will have to be." "In warfare, the best way to burn Spirit Stones is through ’Formation’." "But Formation is large, difficult, reliant on Formation Masters for coordination, complicated to set up, and hard to maintain, requiring prior preparation, greatly limited during battle, with poor effect." "Beyond Formation, there’s runes. Simple, direct, convenient, abrupt, they can be used immediately after unsealing, with decent destructive power." "Typically, the Taoist Court or some large forces will purchase a large batch of runes at relatively favorable prices for use as ’military equipment’ in large-scale cultivator battles." "But to produce runes requires enormous financial support. Only some extremely wealthy aristocratic families in Kun State, with disciples having good Spiritual Roots and sufficient Spiritual Power, with a good family foundation, abundant Spirit Stones, and rich local resources, can carry out large-scale rune production..." Mo Hua nodded, roughly understanding. Runes are "military arms." The aristocratic families of Kun State are "big landlords." Big landlords selling military arms generated high profits, becoming "great clans." Mo Hua glanced at the match list. Their opponent this time is the "Spirit Talisman Sect" from the Twelve Streams. "Spirit Talisman Sect..." Mo Hua pondered. "Spirit Talisman Sect is a sect specializing in the skill of rune refining." Situ Jian said, "Some large aristocratic families in Kun State do not expect their disciples to learn the inheritance of the Four Sects and Eight Gates but hope instead for them to systematically learn some rare rune refining skills." "Therefore, even though Spirit Talisman Sect is one of the Twelve Streams, though proficient in rune making, the sect also has some very well qualified disciples." "More importantly, the Spirit Talisman Sect is also very wealthy." Mo Hua was curious, "How wealthy can they be?" Situ Jian said, "Reportedly, wealthier than most of the Eight Great Gates." "Why?" Mo Hua didn’t quite understand, "Do they have a rune-making industry? Sell runes themselves?" Situ Jian nodded, "It should be..." But he is not very sure about the details. At this moment, Ouyang Xuan, who had been sulking on the side but eavesdropping on the two’s conversation, said indifferently: "Because they are sponsored by the great clans of Kun State." "Sponsored by the great clans of Kun State?" Mo Hua was somewhat surprised. Seeing Mo Hua, who was also hiding his ignorance, Ouyang Xuan hid a faint sneer and then said: "Some great clans in Kun State, like the Wu family, would provide a large amount of Spirit Stones and rich resources to support the Spirit Talisman Sect in researching rune refining skills." "The rune-making skill researched by the Spirit Talisman Sect, in turn, benefits the great clans of Kun State." "At the same time, the Spirit Talisman Sect will reserve some ’special class’ admission slots for the great clans of Kun State, maintaining relationships through mentorship and benefits." "These Spirit Stones are extremely abundant, enough to rival the Spirit Stone share of Mount Qianlong’s spiritual mines from the Twelve Sects." "Thus, this Spirit Talisman Sect of the Twelve Streams is wealthier than most of the Eight Great Gates." "Other sects mostly follow a pure inheritance system, with occasionally a small portion of industry." "But Spirit Talisman Sect follows a sect and great clan fusion system, sharing Tao cultivation skills, deeply binding interests..."